U.S. patent application number 14/338735 was filed with the patent office on 2015-01-29 for driver distraction disabling via gesture recognition.
This patent application is currently assigned to Kyllburg Technologies, LLC. The applicant listed for this patent is Kyllburg Technologies, LLC. Invention is credited to William Birgen, Hakim Hill.
Application Number | 20150031349 14/338735 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 52390919 |
Filed Date | 2015-01-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150031349 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hill; Hakim ; et
al. |
January 29, 2015 |
DRIVER DISTRACTION DISABLING VIA GESTURE RECOGNITION
Abstract
A method and system for preventing distracted driving caused by
mobile devices are disclosed. The method and system may determine
whether a user is driving by the traveling speed and the gestures
of the user. In addition, the orientation of the mobile device may
be used for detecting whether the user is a driver.
Inventors: |
Hill; Hakim; (Tempe, AZ)
; Birgen; William; (Tempe, AZ) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Kyllburg Technologies, LLC |
Tempe |
AZ |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Kyllburg Technologies, LLC
Tempe
AZ
|
Family ID: |
52390919 |
Appl. No.: |
14/338735 |
Filed: |
July 23, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61859105 |
Jul 26, 2013 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
455/418 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 1/72569 20130101;
H04M 1/72577 20130101; H04M 2250/12 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/418 |
International
Class: |
H04M 1/725 20060101
H04M001/725 |
Claims
1. A mobile device comprising: a) a motion detector configured to
determine whether a traveling speed of a vehicle in which the
mobile device is located exceeds a predefined threshold level; b) a
user interaction analyzer configured to detect at least one driver
indication; and c) a lock-out mechanism configured to automatically
and selectively disable at least one predefined feature of the
mobile device based on outputs of the motion detector and the user
interaction analyzer.
2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the lock-out mechanism is
further configured to disable the at least one predefined feature
when the traveling speed exceeds the predefined threshold level and
the at least one driver indication is detected.
3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the at least one driver
indication is found when the user interaction analyzer detects a
driving gesture of a user of the mobile device.
4. The mobile device of claim 3 further comprises a camera
configured to automatically take at least one picture of the user
for the user interaction analyzer to determine whether the at least
one driver indication is detected.
5. The mobile device of claim 3, wherein the driving gesture is
determined based on a movement of a user body part.
6. The mobile device of claim 3, wherein the driving gesture is
determined based on a position of a user body part relative to at
least one object of a background scenery.
7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the at least one driver
indication is found when an orientation of the mobile device falls
into a predetermined range of orientations of a driver's mobile
device.
8. The mobile device of claim 7 further comprises an orientation
sensor configured to determine the orientation of the mobile
device.
9. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the lock-out mechanism is
further configured to allow a limited emergency use of the disabled
at least one predefined feature.
10. A method for preventing driving distraction, the method
comprising the steps of: a) a mobile device determining a traveling
speed of a vehicle in which the mobile device is located; b) the
mobile device detecting at least one driver indication; and c) the
mobile device automatically and selectively disabling at least one
predefined feature of the mobile device when the traveling speed
exceeds a predefined threshold level and the driver indication is
detected.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one driver
indication is found when the mobile device detects a driving
gesture of a user of the mobile device.
12. The method of claim 11 further comprises the steps of: a) the
mobile device automatically taking at least one picture of a user
of the mobile device by a camera; and b) the mobile device
determining whether the driving gesture exists based on the at
least one picture.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the driving gesture is
determined based on a movement of a user body part.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the driving gesture is
determined based on a position of a user body part relative to at
least one object of a background scenery.
15. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one driver
indication is found when the mobile device detects that an
orientation of the mobile device falls into a predetermined range
of orientations of a driver's mobile device.
16. The method of claim 15 further comprises the step of: the
mobile device determining the orientation of the mobile device by
an orientation sensor.
17. The method of claim 10 further comprises the step of: the
mobile device automatically enabling a limited emergency use of the
disabled at least one predefined feature.
18. A mobile device for preventing distracted driving comprising:
a) a motion detector configured to determine whether a traveling
speed of a vehicle in which the mobile device is located exceeds a
predefined threshold level; b) a user interaction analyzer
configured to detect at least one driver indication by the group
consisting of: 1) determining whether a user gesture matches at
least one predefined driving gesture based on at least one picture
of a user automatically taken by a camera, 2) determining whether
an orientation of the mobile device falls into a predefined range
of orientations of a driver's mobile device, and 3) combinations
thereof; and c) a lock-out mechanism configured to automatically
and selectively disable the at least one predefined feature of the
mobile device based on outputs of the motion detector and the user
interaction analyzer.
19. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the lock-out mechanism
is further configured to disable the at least one predefined
feature when the traveling speed exceeds the predefined threshold
level and the at least one driver indication is detected.
20. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the lock-out mechanism
is further configured to allow a limited emergency use of the
disabled at least one predefined feature.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application claims priority to co-pending U.S.
provisional patent application entitled "Driver Distraction
Disabling via Gesture Recognition," having Ser. No. 61/859,105,
filed on Jul. 26, 2013, which is entirely incorporated herein by
reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Distracted driving is dangerous and sometimes fatal. In
2011, up to 10% of fatal auto collisions were reported as
distraction-affected crashes in the U.S. For drivers under the age
of 20, 21% of the fatal, distraction-related crashes involve the
use of cell phones at the time of the collisions. Many states now
outlaw texting while driving. But laws alone are not enough to
deter some drivers. To prevent distracted driving, an effective way
may be to limit the use of cell phones by disabling the distracting
features. Existing systems and methods use servers or additional
devices to identify whether the user is driving. Consequentially,
these systems and methods incur extra costs to the users. It is
desirous to utilize the computing power and features of a mobile
device to prevent drivers from distractions.
SUMMARY
[0003] The structure, overall operation and technical
characteristics of the present invention will become apparent with
the detailed description of preferred embodiments and the
illustration of the related drawing as follows.
[0004] The invention is incorporated in a method and a system with
interconnected software and a mobile device that detect whether a
user of the mobile device is driving above a certain speed that
serious, or even fatal, accidents are likely to happen. For the
purpose of this application, a "mobile device" should be broadly
considered to include various handheld devices, such as cell
phones, handheld game consoles, portable media players, personal
digital assistants (PDAs), mobile internet devices (MIDs), mobile
televisions, and any other hand-held device that can transmit text
messages and related information. If the user is found driving,
certain distracting features of the mobile device may be
temporarily disabled by a lock-out mechanism of the mobile device.
The distracting features may include texting, youtube, emails,
movies, and so forth. When the features are disabled, a message may
be displayed to inform the user of the temporary disablement.
[0005] The mobile device may include a motion detector to detect
the traveling speed and to determine whether the traveling speed is
beyond a certain, predefined threshold level, such as 10
miles/hour, which indicates that the user may be driving. The
traveling speed of the user means an instantaneous speed of the
mobile device, rather than an average speed over the course of the
journey. The location of the mobile device may be sampled at a
certain frequency such as several times a minute so that the
traveling speed can be constantly updated. Alternatively, the speed
may be determined with a global positioning system (GPS) or any
other means known to a person skilled in the art. For example, the
vehicle may be able to communicate with the mobile device of its
traveling speed. If the traveling speed is lower than the speed at
which statistically crashes may cause serious injuries, such as
when a driver stops at a red light, then the user may be allowed to
use the distracting features.
[0006] In addition to the traveling speed, indications of whether a
user is driving include the gestures of the user, the objects near
the user, and the orientation of the mobile device being used. The
mobile device may include a user interaction analyzer to detect
these driver indications. For example, user gesture identification
consistent with driving may include identifying movements and
positions of the user's eyes, head, shoulders, and hands, and any
combinations thereof. Objects near the user may be used to identify
whether the user is sitting in the driver seat. As to the
orientation of the mobile device, a driver is not likely to tilt
the mobile device flat against her lap when using the device.
Therefore, if a user uses the mobile device with the screen facing
up, the user is less likely the driver.
[0007] One embodiment may identify the user gestures based on
images taken by its cameras. Gestures of a driver are different
from a passenger's. In an embodiment with a rearward facing camera
and facial recognition software for distinguishing the user's face
from all of the objects comprising the background scenery (the
interior components of the vehicle and the objects outside the
vehicle), or for identifying when the user's face tilt changes in a
nodding motion, the user interaction analyzer of the embodiment may
decide that the user is a driver. Another embodiment with an eye
movement tracking sensor may detect that the user is a driver by
identifying an up and down darting motion of the user's eye.
Alternatively, if a user interaction analyzer automatically takes
pictures of the user every 10 seconds, identifies the objects in
the pictures, and finds in a picture that at least one of the
user's hands rests on the steering wheel (a part of the background
scenery), then the user interaction analyzer may determine that a
driver gesture is detected. Similarly, various combinations of eye,
head, hand, and shoulder movements and positions may be used for
identifying whether the user is driving.
[0008] Additionally, the relative positions of the objects may
indicate where the user is sitting in a vehicle. Examples of the
objects include an instrument cluster, a steering wheel, the road,
other vehicles, and so forth. An embodiment may use a forward
facing camera to captures images for identifying the objects. When
the embodiment identifies from the image a certain shape that
resembles a part of an instrument cluster, the user may be sitting
in the driver seat and therefore a driver. Also, if a
steering-wheel-like object appears or the meeting of the dashboard
with the windshield in the image taken by the forward facing
camera, the embodiment may determine that the user is holding the
mobile device while driving. Another example is a road with road
markings delineating the lanes, if the marking on the left is
closer to the user, the user may be sitting in the driver seat (in
most countries). Various embodiments may use various objects and
combinations thereof to identify the user's seat.
[0009] Finally, the orientation of the mobile device may be used by
the user interaction analyzer of the mobile device to distinguish a
driver from passengers. One embodiment may use an orientation
sensor, such as an accelerometer in a smart phone, to detect the
angle of the mobile device. If the mobile device is placed against
a user's lap, the user is less likely a driver. But if the screen
of the mobile device is facing away from the direction of travel,
and the mobile device is inclining forward within 45 degrees of
vertical angle, the user may be a driver.
[0010] One object of this invention is to identify whether the user
is driving while using a mobile device and to disable the
distracting features of the mobile device, while allowing the use
of the mobile device by passengers.
[0011] One object of this invention is to prevent distracted
driving involving mobile devices while certain emergency uses are
still allowed.
[0012] Another object of this invention is to provide a low cost
system and method for effectively preventing distracted driving
caused by a mobile device while not incurring extra cost for
additional devices or services specially designed to identify a
driver.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS OR PICTURES
[0013] FIG. 1 is a flow chart of one embodiment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[0014] The preferred embodiments are a method and a mobile device
for preventing distracted driving by disabling distracting features
of the mobile device. The preferred method is illustrated in FIG.
1. The mobile device preferably comprises a motion detector, a user
interaction analyzer, a lock-out mechanism, a GPS receiver, and
forward and rearward facing cameras. The mobile device may
incorporate the preferred method in FIG. 1 to identify the driver
and disable features of the mobile device that may be
distracting.
[0015] In Step 110 of FIG. 1, the preferred method first detects
the traveling speed of the mobile device by a motion detector. If
the motion detector find that the speed exceeds a certain threshold
(e.g. 5 miles per hour, the safe speed being a predetermined
number), the user may be traveling in a vehicle at an unsafe speed
and the first criterion 110 is met. The threshold is preferably a
fixed number above which a collision may result in serious injuries
or death, or the threshold may be configurable by the user via a
user interface.
[0016] For a preferred embodiment with a GPS receiver, the motion
detector may determine the traveling speed of the mobile device by
measuring the Doppler shift in the GPS signals from the satellites.
The signals from the satellites change depending on how fast the
mobile device is moving towards or away from the satellites. The
more satellites the GPS receiver can track, the more accurate the
calculated traveling speed is. For another embodiment with a cell
phone as the mobile device, the traveling speed of the mobile
device may be determined by the distance and location of cell
towers by the motion detector.
[0017] The preferred embodiment may then use the user interaction
analyzer to detect whether the user is a driver by various driver
indications. The first indication is based on a predefined set of
driving gestures--user gestures detected in Step 120 that are
consistent with driving. The preferred embodiment may adopt a
rearward facing camera and facial recognition software for
detecting the orientation of the user's face. If the tilt of the
user's face changes in a nodding motion, the user may be a
distracted driver. If the user blocks the camera, the user may be a
driver who tries to circumvent the detection.
[0018] In another embodiment with a rearward facing motion sensor,
the motion sensor may also detect a nodding motion which can be
used to determine that the user is driving. Moreover, if an
embodiment is equipped with an eye motion sensor, the user's up and
down darting motion may indicate that she is a driver. Various
embodiments may use one or more gesture matches with the
predetermined driver gestures as a pass of this criterion.
[0019] In Step 130, the preferred embodiment may identify objects
generally seen from a driver seat but not from a passenger seat for
determining where the user is sitting. The preferred embodiment
with a forward facing camera may take pictures of the environment
the user is facing. Based on the shapes of objects in the pictures,
the embodiment may determine that the objects match those generally
seen from a driver seat, thus meeting the criterion. The objects
used may include things in the vehicle such as the steering wheel,
the instrument cluster, the dashboard, the meeting of the dashboard
and the windshield, or any parts of these objects. Things outside
the vehicle may also be used, such as the road and other vehicles.
The criterion in various embodiments may require only one match or
multiple matches.
[0020] Some environmental issues may affect the effectiveness of
Steps 120 and 130. An example would be when it is night, it may be
too dark for the embodiments to recognize the user's gestures or
the objects around the user. Therefore, another driver indication
may be necessary. The preferred embodiment also adopts the
orientation of the mobile device to detect by the user interaction
analyzer whether the user is a driver. If the screen is facing away
from the direction of travel and tilting slightly forward, such as
being within 45 degrees of vertical angle or any predetermined
range of orientations of a driver's mobile device, the user may be
the driver. On the contrary, if the user is a passenger, the user
may tilt her device flat against her lap, with the screen facing
up. Smart phones generally are equipped with accelerometers for
determining orientation.
[0021] For an embodiment with a smart phone as the mobile device or
having an orientation sensor, the embodiment may determine by the
user interaction analyzer that the user is a driver when the device
is not facing up. In the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG.
1, if the user interaction analyzer detects any of the indications
120, 130 and 140, the user is determined a driver. But in other
embodiments, the indication in Step 140 may not be adopted at all
or only be adopted when no driver indications are found in Steps
120 and 130.
[0022] If the criteria 110 and 150 are met, the preferred
embodiment in FIG. 1 disables by the lock-out mechanism certain
predefined features of the mobile device 160 and displays a message
to inform the user that these applications are disabled in Step
170.
[0023] The message may be "pull over and stop if you wish to text"
when the distracting feature disabled is texting with a cell phone.
In addition, the lock-out mechanism may include at least one hot
button for emergency situations in Steps 180 and 190. The hot
button may be pre-defined to allow the user to text or contact 911
or an emergency contact person. It is preferred that the emergency
contact is established with the service provider so that the user
cannot circumvent the blocking.
[0024] The preferred embodiment in FIG. 1 may be performed
repeatedly by the mobile device so that the mobile device
automatically and selectively disables the distracting features
when the user begins driving and re-enables these features when the
user stops or drives at a low speed. The frequency of performing
this method may be configured to a fixed frequency or an embodiment
may conduct the detections more frequently when the user is found
driving faster than the threshold speed. The distracting features
may be predetermined or be configured via a user interface.
Moreover, when the user is found not driving, and the lock-out
mechanism of the preferred embodiment is about to enable the
previously disabled distracting features, the embodiment may show a
message such as "for your safety, do not text and drive" just in
case the user somehow circumvents the blocking logics.
[0025] In addition, alternate embodiments may adopt some but not
all of the criteria in FIG. 1, test the criteria in various
sequences, and determine by the mobile device that a user is
driving even if not all criteria adopted are satisfied. Also, the
alternate embodiments may adopt other means to indicate that some
features are disabled or not display any alert message at all.
Additionally, for embodiments that detect traveling speed by the
motion detector with GPS sensors, the user interface for
deactivating GPS may be disabled to avoid user's blocking the
embodiments.
[0026] While the invention has been described by means of specific
embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made
thereto by those ordinarily skilled in the art without departing
from the score and spirit disclosed herein.
REFERENCES
[0027] 1. U.S. Patent Publication No. 20130005443 by James Peter
Kosta et al. [0028] 2. U.S. Patent Publication No. 20120306770 by
Christopher Moore et al. [0029] 3. U.S. Pat. No. 8,235,529 by Hayes
Solos Raffle et al. [0030] 4. U.S. Pat. No. 8,254,960 by Chi-Sheng
Ge. [0031] 5. PCT Publication No. WO2012089901 A1 by Nokia
Corp.
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